It Can Wait

I was trying to check my email this morning and to see what was happening in the wide world of Facebook and I was having a little trouble doing so. Every time I clicked on a page I had a Basset Hound walk over the keyboard or put his paw on the keys in his attempt to snuggle  up under my neck. He was needy today and needed cuddles. It could be because he has an ear infection or it could be because he vomited at 3:30 this morning or it could be because he's a puppy and he needs love. Either way, he is now happily ensconced in my lap, sound asleep, and I am typing by balancing the computer on the arm of the couch and my knee.


 If you're not a 'dog person' you're probably thinking: just shoo the dog off your lap, make him lay on the floor like dogs should. Well, that's okay for you to think, but I kind of like the fact that he needs me and that I can bring comfort to him when he's not feeling well. The email and Facebook aren't that important. They can wait. The dust bunnies that live under my end tables can wait too. I benefit from a sleeping Basset too. Readers Digest said awhile ago that pet owners tend to live longer and have less stress. That's true. When I'm holding a contented puppy on my lap, I tend to match my breathing with his and I relax. So this is a mutual relationship.


But all this got me thinking of the things that we think are important in the run of a day: the dishes having to be done, not leaving the house without making the beds, the floors being swept etc, etc. (You get my point). Yes, those things are important and nice to have done, but there are more important things that sometimes get over looked because we are so busy fussing like taking time to read to our kids or to go outside and play with them. Maybe when your child is pulling on your shirt and chanting your name over and over they really aren't trying to drive you crazy, they're just really needing your attention and affirmation at that moment. 


Take time to enjoy the blessings you have been given. Take time to enjoy your children, because they really do grow up too fast. Take time to enjoy a puppy sitting on your lap. Everything else can wait. This poem was first published in the Ladies Home Journal in 1958 by Ruth Hulbert Hamilton. I love it and I hope you do too.

Song for a Fifth Child

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth, Empty the dustpan, poison the moth, Hang out the washing and butter the bread, Sew on a button and make up a bed.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking? She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.Oh, I’ve grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue (Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo). Dishes are waiting and bills are past due (Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo). 

The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo. Look! Aren’t her eyes the most wonderful hue? (Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo). 

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow, For children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow. So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep. I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.